About

WOMEN'S FORUM FOR THE ECONOMY & SOCIETY

Bringing together women and men from all vocations, generations and geographies

The Women’s Forum for the Economy & Society is a leading platform dedicated to highlighting women’s voices and perspectives on global issues. We believe in women leaders’ distinctive capacity to create positive impact on their employees, communities and societies.

Headquartered in Paris with global influence, the Women’s Forum for the Economy & Society manifests a commitment to women’s leadership and progress throughout the year with a range of Initiatives in partnership with businesses, cultural and media leaders and non-governmental organisations.

Our yearly Global Meeting in Paris has become an unmissable date on the international conference calendar – a place to be and to be heard.

With our powerful network that unleashes women’s leadership, our ambition to promote our values through dialogue and concrete solutions, we are transitioning from a convening focus to engaging for impact.

We empower leaders – both women and men – to make a difference. We strive to build bridges between generations, countries and cultures. We encourage tolerance and solidarity for and among women in every sector, wherever they are, through daring dialogue at our Meetings around the world.

Working with the support of our partners and delegates, the Women’s Forum has convened decision-makers, pioneers and trailblazers to accelerate the impact of women’s leadership and empower women across society. When we make progress for women, we make life better for everyone.

This year’s aspiration to bridge humanity as a means of creating a more cohesive and vibrant society is a natural continuation of our past work and our powerful vision for the future. We invite you to join us.

Bridging humanity An overarching narrative for 2018

As the Women’s Forum for the Economy & Society highlights women’s perspectives on global social and economic issues, Bridging humanity will be a guiding theme for 2018. From political upheaval to climate change to business disruption to persistent inequality – today’s pressing issues need gendered views to animate debates, provide fresh opinions and create the conditions for action. Under the narrative of Bridging humanity, the Women’s Forum will create new connections – or bridges – between different groups, points of view, experiences, institutions and leaders as a means of generating impact.

There is an opportunity to promote women’s leadership on these issues, too. In studying women’s leadership styles, important commonalities emerge. Where men and women seem to be equally oriented towards business results, women’s bottom lines extend beyond financials. They are driven by making a positive impact (as seen also in the 2017 Women’s Forum Rising Talents Survey) on their employees, communities and societies. This leadership perspective is a different kind of gender gap, one that may hold the key to bridging divides.

Indeed, we believe women are the bridge to a more cohesive and vibrant society, built by recognising their perspectives on humanity’s challenges and realising their leadership potential. Women are half the global population but the sum of their contributions has been held back to date. Their drive to achieve a broader positive impact could span the divides in many domains of our personal and professional lives.

Inspired by women’s leadership, the Women’s Forum for the Economy & Society brings a distinctly female perspective to addressing the issues affecting all of humanity and engaging for impact toward resolutions.

Bridge the issues. In order to create positive impact through their work, interconnections amongst issues must be understood. The Women’s Forum provides this holistic view on global challenges through its meetings and content, highlighting the overlap amongst issues of business, policy, the environment, gender and society.

Bridge the leadership. Women have been under-represented in public and private sector leadership roles, creating a vacuum of female voices in debates about global challenges. Through its work, the Women’s Forum shines a light on women who are tackling the issues of our day, and brings together leaders with diverse experiences and backgrounds. And we inspire high-potential female talents to enter the global conversation and apply new thinking to these issues.

Bridge the distance. The world’s challenges are global and interconnected. Our ability to address them requires diverse thinking and multi-stakeholder collaboration. The Women’s Forum’s regional meetings bring leaders together to address regional challenges in a global context, while our global meeting convenes around topics that resonate with everyone, directly or indirectly. By seeking locations that are physically or metaphorically bridges between regions or cultures, the Women’s Forum finds a common ground for leaders of all genders and backgrounds to debate the issues that matter most.